Ramona
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Travel Blog Posts
July 14th 2006
Well-off we went to our long awaited Safari. There were six of us and we had the best time. We started out by flying into Nairobi on a Friday evening. Once there, we stayed in the Safari Park Hotel for the evening and were off around 0800 the next morning to the bus that was scheduled to take us to Aursha, Tanzania. This trip took about 5-6 hours. That evening we stayed at the Impala hotel and woke Sunday morning to be driven to Sunni Safaris (our tour giuide for our safari). Hence our vacation began. Our safari lasted three days (Sunday through Wednesaday). We went to the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti, Hippo Lake and some other places. The hotels (lodges) were incredible. Watching the native dancing was interesting as well. There was one occasion on ... read more
May 31st 2006
The day everyone has been waiting for has arrived. Toby Keith came to visit us for a small concert. The band was in rare form and American Patriotism was at it's best. I must say, I just recently heard of him but my mind clicked when some said-"Remember him-He's the one who slammed the Dixie Chicks for their comments in Europe?". Then I remembered who he was. Nonetheless, I became a "groupie" like everyone else and had to have my picture taken with him. As you can see in one of the pictures, I had full anticipation of shaking his hand. Is it obvious? Great time was had by all. Thanks Toby for visiting us in our little realm of the world trying to make life better for some over on this side of the world. ... read more
April 29th 2006
Day started out like normal. Heard the hustle and bustle of the large trucks loaded with vendors and their wares. Seemed like a good MWR function until I went shopping and saw the prices. Looked at several items that I had seen out in town. They were unbelievably high. One item I looked at the vendor wanted $150 US dollars. Couldn't believe it. Finally found some items that I wanted and talked the guy down to $70 US for all. I knew he took Djiboutian Francs but couldn't calculate fast enough. Asked him how much in DF. He said 15,000. When I calculated that out-it was $90 US. I was mad and told him I knew that it was really 11,500 DF. He looked at me with a smile like he was saying-"Darn, you caught me." ... read more
April 28th 2006
Just wanted to explain this. There was a new Chief that came onboard here. Blonde hair about my age. As the Chief's mess began talking we realized that she was from Texas and she somewhat reminded me of a southern belle. They started calling her the "new shiny penny". I said-What does that make me? I'm a new Chief too? They all replied-Your the Crusty Penny. LOL And there it is. Further entries will be brought to you by the "CRUSTY PENNY". :-)... read more
April 16th 2006
Our office decided to go to the local Cheetah Refuge. Once again we went on buses but this time I went with my whole legal staff. It took about 20-30 minutes to get there. Roads were unbelievable. Apparently we drove right by the local dump. I wish I had gotten pictures. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Anyway-I was able to get a couple of pictures of some roaming camels and although we expected more cheetahs (we only saw three) I think this refuge is more of a zoo because those animals looked pretty healthy to us. We did see on mini-gazelle (as we like to call it) and she started attacking one of my lawyers. It was too funny. This animal was so aggressive. Now we all know that it isn't just ... read more
April 8th 2006
My thoughts for this day- I was able to convince my boss to go out on a camp sponsored shopping trip as I had done a couple of weeks ago and enjoy himself. Upon his return he told me about how he had seen some small children that appeared to have nothing to their names. He handed out 1,000 Djiboutian Francs (equivalent to $6US) to this child and out of nowhere he was inundated with children wanting money, chewing gum, anything he had to offer. He then realized that his small gesture of generosity was becoming uncontrollable and got back on the bus. He said it reminded him of a story that was told to him once about the Mexican gypsies. He began to tell the story of a poor woman who was holding a very ... read more
March 25th 2006
Well today was an interesting experience. Went with a group of people to the local market to buy some gifts. We went on (2) buses and their were about 30 of us. Met a guy names Ralph (who you will see in one of the pictures). We talked a little on the way to the market and he had been out before so I decided to stick with him. First stop was the basket market. Women making wicker type baskets of different colors by hand along with some African style shirts. While the women were making the baskets, children and older men ran up to us to sell us their wares. After my shrewd negotiations, I decided to buy a basket and a shirt. The man stated 2,000 francs(about $10US). I told him no but I ... read more
February 26th 2006
A bit tired this morning. Friends wanted me to go out and drink a little last night. It's funny since I've been here, I haven't felt like drinking. Guess maybe I've exchanged some stress for a different kind of stress. Had 2 hours indocrination this morning. General from 5th Fleet flew in to greet us. Awfully young. Our guys that are transporting our weapons got held up temporarily, therefore we don't have our weapons or gear yet. What a suprise to them when they come from 29 degrees in Germany to 91 degrees in Feb here in Djibouti. All of us anticipate a hot summer in July, Aug and Sept. Haven't washed any clothes yet but at least I have my uniforms. Some people only brought one set and the rest are with the cargo. There ... read more
February 24th 2006
Had my 1st opportunity to write. First arrived on Tues at 0800 at NAS JAX and didn't leave until 11:30. Eventually had a layover in Naples for 6 hours. Was supposed to be 2 hours. Arrived midnight Wed. When they assigned me my tent, they showed me D1E. I said, you've got to be kidding, what is that all about? They said I was in tent D1 and the E was for east. So my tent is now known as the "die" tent. Not a good feeling. Have a full locker, bed, shelves. Better than on a ship. Took 3 hours to fall asleeep. Got up at 10a.m. First impression was the smell that overtook the plane when we landed. Awful dirty smell that one cannot explain. Even in the dark, the place looked poverty stricken. ... read more
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.004s; cc: 6; qc: 85; dbt: 0.0537s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.7mb
